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There was a day at clinical way back when I was in There was a day at clinical way back when I was in nursing school 10 years ago. It’s funny how some of the simplest of conversations you remember forever. 

My preceptor asked me how I liked my coffee, and scared and passive little me mumbled “oh, however…”

She looked at me and told me, “Always know what you want. So how do you like your coffee?”

Black I said. 

Always know what you want. ☕️

#nursingschoolproblems #crnaschool #srna #anesthesiaschool #anesthesia #nursingschoolprobs #futurenurse #futurenurses #registerednurse #registerednurses #bsnrn #icunurse #icunurses #nurseanesthesia #nurseanesthetist
Precedex Education! 💉⁣ We love precedex in th Precedex Education! 💉⁣
We love precedex in the OR, but I didn’t so much in the ICU 😂 ⁣
Who’s a fan and who’s not?⁣ & save this post for reference!
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#crnaschool #anesthesia #anesthesiaeducation #icunursing #icu #icunurse #icurn #crna #srna #srnalife #srnaprobs #futurecrna #nurseanesthetist #nurseanesthesiologist #anesthesiology #nursingschooleducation #nursingeducation⁣
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Another quarter down only ONE MORE to go 😀 3 mo Another quarter down only ONE MORE to go 😀
3 more months until graduation!! 🎓👩🏻‍🎓
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⏰ 2,200 hours of clinical experience down and some more to go BUT
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The countdown begins 🎉
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
#crna #srna #srnalife #srnaproblems #nurseanesthesia #nurseanesthetist #nurseanesthesiologist #anesthesiology #nurseanesthesiology #futurecrna #srnatocrna #nurseblog #icurn #crnaweek #nurseanesthesia #crna #crnaschool #srnatocrna #nurseanesthetists
I highly do not recommend tag-teaming a case with I highly do not recommend tag-teaming a case with your friend cause you will end up dying from laughter at each other the entire time. 🫀💉 @ed.tee 
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#crnaschool #arewedoneyet #futurecrna #futurecrnas #srna #srnalife #srnaprobs #srnaproblems #nurseanesthesia #nursesweek2022 #nursesweek #anesthesia #aneathesiaschool #nurseanesthetist #nurseanesthesiologist #operatingroom #scrublife
PROPOFOL FACTS🤍😴💤 Did you know the last 2 PROPOFOL FACTS🤍😴💤
Did you know the last 2 slides? 🤓
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Don’t forget to save this for later!
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#propofol #milkofamnesia #anesthesia #anesthesialife #crnaschool #srna #srnalife #srnaprobs #srnatocrna #futurecrna #icunursing #icunurse #icunurses
Nurse Anesthetist loaaaaadingggggg… ⠀⠀⠀⠀ Nurse Anesthetist loaaaaadingggggg…
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4.5 months til’ the title!! 🎓
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#futurecrna #crna #nurseanesthetist #anesthesiaschool #nurseanesthesiologists #nurseanesthesiologist #srnalife #srnatocrna
I thought I’d be all coordinated and wear this c I thought I’d be all coordinated and wear this cap for dental cases, then the OR nurse asked me if there were butt cracks on my cap & now I’ll never unsee it 😂 🍑 looks like this is my new endo cap 💩

#crnaschool #srna #srnalife #scrubcap #scrubcaps #mallampati #futurecrna #anesthesia #anesthesiaschool #icunurse #gastrointestinal #dentalanesthesia
I’ve been seeing so many versions of what happen I’ve been seeing so many versions of what happened with #radondavaught that me & my roommate found the official court documents & photo evidence for those who are interested in what happened in the words of RaDonda herself. In general, don’t ever trust what comments you read on social media, & read the facts before forming your opinion, regardless of what stance you take. This is an unfortunate circumstance for everyone involved & I am so SO ready for the nursing profession to start to feel passionate and empowered again. 😕 Swipe to read, what do you guys think?
Let’s talk about blood transfusion! 🩸⁣ ⁣ Let’s talk about blood transfusion! 🩸⁣
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𝐩𝐑𝐁𝐂𝐬 ⁣
🔴 Transfusing 1 unit of pRBCs raises Hgb ~ 1g/dL & Hct by 2-3%. This provides a good estimate of where you should be at without drawing labs.⁣
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🔴 There are 𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 that increase the shelf-life of blood. ⁣
- 𝐂𝐢𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞: anticoagulant. You don’t want your blood clotting in the bag! It inhibits calcium. Keep this in mind if giving multiple units, could lead to hypocalcemia. ⁣
- 𝐃𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐞: substrate for glycolysis for energy (ATP). This prevents the RBC from using the oxygen they’re transporting to the tissues. ⁣
- 𝐏𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞: a buffer that prevents acidosis⁣
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🔴 Although these additives are great to prolong banked blood, they also come with consequences the longer the blood sits there. ⁣
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𝐑𝐢𝐬𝐤𝐬 include:⁣
- ↓ 𝐩𝐇 = ↑ lactic acid = bad⁣
- ↑ 𝐊 (keep in mind for renal fail pts). Hyperkalemia can result from an impaired RBC cell membrane that happens with stored blood, causing K to leak out. ⁣
- ↓ 𝟐,𝟑 𝐃𝐏𝐆 = ↓O2 release to the tissues. Which is the whole point of RBCs right. To deliver oxygen to the body. This is why with ECMO patients we used to ask blood bank for our blood to be <10 days old, to get the max benefit for these sick hypoxic patients. ⁣
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🔴What does 𝘭𝘦𝘶𝘬𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 mean? You’ll see this a lot on your blood bags. Leuko = WBC, reduced. This reduces/removes WBCs from pRBCs. This decreases the risk of febrile transfusion reactions & other adverse effects. ⁣
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💾 Save this post for reference! Want more posts like this? Let me know in the comments 👇🏼
It was a cool day. I remember the first time an an It was a cool day. I remember the first time an anesthesiologist went to intubate and he let me peek at the vocal cords when I was 15. I fell in love with anesthesia that day. 

Early on in clinical, I would think of that moment sometimes & wonder how he was able to do that so gracefully. I remember being so overwhelmed with intubating - how was he able to keep that perfect view for so long and so casually? I felt like I had seconds before I would lose my view and struggle to find it again. I felt like that would never be me and that I was a failure. 

I remember being asked by preceptors to explain each step of what I was doing during induction, and how my mind would literally black out cause I was trying so hard to focus on the tasks. How could they expect me to say everything out loud and the rationale plus answer their questions during such a critical moment? 

Today there were 2 nursing students shadowing in the OR, & my preceptor told me to explain everything I was doing & then I did. And when I went to intubate I got my view & asked them both if they wanted to see & then they did. And idk if I’m emotional because I’ve had 3 hours of sleep or cause that was just kinda cool because I finally felt competent enough to do what that MD did 15 years ago but yeah it was a good day.

Sassy Anesthesia

Nursing

10 Things You MUST Know Before Nursing School

February 16, 2018February 24, 2018

Whether you’ve been accepted into nursing school or are thinking about nursing as a career, nursing school usually places most students in a shock state pretty quickly. I knew I wanted to work in the medical field throughout high school and had heard nursing school was pretty intense. You have no idea how difficult – until reality smacks you in the face and you have your first meltdown day one. Completely normal I might add.

Here’s what you should know before you start your journey to placing that RN after your name.

1. You will have no life. Let’s just start with the truth. Your life will 100% revolve around everything that is nursing school. Whether it’s studying for nursing school, crying about nursing school, failing a test in nursing school, not sleeping in nursing school, going to clinical (in nursing school), and maybe actually enjoying nursing school. Your days are packed with classes. Even more so if you’re taking other gen-eds. Then after class you’re studying or doing your write-up for clinicals the next day. Relationships will be challenged, your social life will decline. Accept this and you’ll be okay.

2. Study groups can help or hurt you. Some study groups are awesome. If you stay engaged and focused, you can learn a lot from other people. Stuff that you maybe zoned out on in class or missed reading yourself. Make sure you demonstrate some contribution to the group. You don’t want people to think you’re mooching off their notes/knowledge. Other groups can encourage distraction and negative talk. If you find yourself in one of these groups, slip away and start studying yourself. You’re just wasting precious time and sleep hours.

3. Suck up to your professors. You need these people on your side. Whether it’s for clinical assignments, your grade on a paper, or writing you a letter of rec. Some of them might even work part time in a hospital you’re interested in.

4. Get organized. You will have so many things going on at once, your organizational skills have to be top notch. Get yourself a nice planner, colored pens/highlighters. Try your best to schedule in some down time. Whether it’s going out to dinner with friends or having a hobby, you really do need the balance during these stressful years.

5. Be okay with a bad grade. High school may have been easy for you, but nursing school is a whole separate world. You WILL get a bad grade and you WILL be okay. Use it to motivate you to do better next time. Your GPA really doesn’t matter as much in nursing school. As long as you pass your classes, you’ll most likely have a job after school. Hospitals are more interested in your experience and extracurricular involvement than GPA.

Nursing school books and laptop

6. You will be up early and stay up late. All the time. Classes and clinical start early. Like 5am clinical early. Sleep when you can, and fill yourself up with nutrition. Know the time when sleep is more helpful than studying more. There were nights where I knew I wouldn’t retain anything past 2am and times where I had enough energy to study more. Listen to your body.

7. Get a job in the hospital. If you can handle a job throughout nursing school, I highly recommend working or volunteering on a unit you’re interested in. This is for a number of reasons. First, you get to know the staff/management and they can see your work ethic. Second, nursing school barely brushes on your clinical skills. You really do learn mostly everything on the job, so this gives you a head start on learning the nurse’s role, as well as the coordination of care between the interdisciplinary team. And third, some hospitals only hire internal applicants, so this would already put you in the hospital system. The hospital I work at now has started to only hire internal applicants.

8.Build your resume throughout school. Volunteer, join clubs, etc. Hospitals want students that go above and beyond the basic requirements to graduate. You can read more about how to build your resume on my blog post here.

9. There is a lot of poop. And vomit. And bile and mucus and blood. Maybe you’ll have some shmegma action? (HA look that one up). Now of course after you graduate this may vary depending on what unit you’re hired into, but during school you will have lots of experience with the above. Oh yes indeed. When an RN has a student for the day they’ll be sure to give you that “learning experience.” Nursing is not a clean job. You’ll have to be okay dealing with the bodily fluids of complete strangers with infections, with scabies, with someone trying to punch you while you’re cleaning them up. Nursing is so rewarding sometimes.

10. Connect with everyone you meet. You really do get hired based off of people you know. That’s just the reality in most cases. Introduce yourself to the manager at clinical, befriend your preceptors. You never know if one of those connections will help get you a job after you graduate. As lame as this sounds, I had business cards made with basic contact info for people I wanted to stay connected with.

 And lastly,

I hate to say this but, not every RN you work with in clinical is going to be nice to you. They might very obviously make you aware that they don’t like having students. This is unfortunately common and something that makes nursing school not so fun. Regardless of who you work with in clinical, just try and make the most of your hospital time. Some days the RN may let you do a lot of things hands-on, other days you may just be more of a shadow. Learn as much as you can with both scenarios, don’t be afraid to ask questions, and write down everything you don’t understand – so you can refer back to it when you have time to look things up. You retain so much more if you have a mental picture of a patient associated with a diagnosis/medication.

I hope I didn’t scare you away from starting nursing school because it really is worth it in the end. I just wanted to give you a touch of realism to counteract what most people hear about being a nurse (money, working 3 days a week, being ridiculously sexy in scrubs…etc). Please, do not go into this profession for those reasons. It’s not easy work! You truly have to have the passion to care for people, the drive to work hard for long hours at a time, and the confidence to advocate for your patients and yourself when challenged.

Any questions about my nursing school experience or anything at all? Leave them below!

10 Things to know before starting nursing school

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6 comments on “10 Things You MUST Know Before Nursing School”

  1. Anonymous
    September 24, 2019 at 2:56 pm

    To be a pediatrician nurse. Do I have to go to a SPecial course or school for it?

    Reply
    • lipstickandlifesaving
      September 24, 2019 at 6:24 pm

      To be a pediatric nurse you don’t need any more schooling in addition to your nursing degree, but hospitals prefer if you have lots of pediatric experience during nursing school.

      Reply
  2. elsa
    December 16, 2018 at 1:12 pm

    I just finished my first semester of the *actual* nursing program, and my first year of being an aide on a hospital floor. Working as an aide prior to nursing school has made my first semester SO much easier. I feel like I am much more comfortable and confident on the unit than my fellow nursing students; however, I can see bad habits that I developed unknowingly as an aide slipping over into my work as a nursing student. I also did not anticipate how different the two roles would be. Nursing is *so* different than aide work. I’m not sure what the point of this comment is exactly, but I just wanted to agree that working in the hospital before school is very helpful, but please be intentional about not developing bad habits!! It will make your clinical experience go so much more smoothly 🙂

    Reply
  3. Holly Harris
    February 24, 2018 at 1:40 pm

    I am currently working in an office environment and taking my prerequisites for nursing school. When I start actual nursing school, I’d theoretically like to work part time in a hospital environment to get clinical experience, but I’m not sure what kind of jobs I could do without any type of nursing license. I’d love to hear some ideas in a future post! Thanks for the blog!

    Reply
    • lipstickandlifesaving
      February 25, 2018 at 3:00 am

      Hey Holly! You could definitely be a volunteer to start. Or once you’re in nursing school, that qualifies you to be a nurse’s aide in most hospitals. That’s what I would suggest doing! Good luck!

      Reply
    • Nichole Cupo
      March 1, 2019 at 2:14 pm

      Patient care assistant, Certified nurse assistant. Its a three to six week course. google in your area!

      Reply

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Hi, I'm Marissa.

I'm a first year SRNA. Here you can find some education & motivation, along with a touch of sass to keep you sane in a difficult but rewarding career path. Thank you for stopping by!
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There was a day at clinical way back when I was in There was a day at clinical way back when I was in nursing school 10 years ago. It’s funny how some of the simplest of conversations you remember forever. 

My preceptor asked me how I liked my coffee, and scared and passive little me mumbled “oh, however…”

She looked at me and told me, “Always know what you want. So how do you like your coffee?”

Black I said. 

Always know what you want. ☕️

#nursingschoolproblems #crnaschool #srna #anesthesiaschool #anesthesia #nursingschoolprobs #futurenurse #futurenurses #registerednurse #registerednurses #bsnrn #icunurse #icunurses #nurseanesthesia #nurseanesthetist
Precedex Education! 💉⁣ We love precedex in th Precedex Education! 💉⁣
We love precedex in the OR, but I didn’t so much in the ICU 😂 ⁣
Who’s a fan and who’s not?⁣ & save this post for reference!
⁣
⁣
⁣
⁣
#crnaschool #anesthesia #anesthesiaeducation #icunursing #icu #icunurse #icurn #crna #srna #srnalife #srnaprobs #futurecrna #nurseanesthetist #nurseanesthesiologist #anesthesiology #nursingschooleducation #nursingeducation⁣
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Another quarter down only ONE MORE to go 😀 3 mo Another quarter down only ONE MORE to go 😀
3 more months until graduation!! 🎓👩🏻‍🎓
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⏰ 2,200 hours of clinical experience down and some more to go BUT
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
The countdown begins 🎉
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
#crna #srna #srnalife #srnaproblems #nurseanesthesia #nurseanesthetist #nurseanesthesiologist #anesthesiology #nurseanesthesiology #futurecrna #srnatocrna #nurseblog #icurn #crnaweek #nurseanesthesia #crna #crnaschool #srnatocrna #nurseanesthetists
I highly do not recommend tag-teaming a case with I highly do not recommend tag-teaming a case with your friend cause you will end up dying from laughter at each other the entire time. 🫀💉 @ed.tee 
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#crnaschool #arewedoneyet #futurecrna #futurecrnas #srna #srnalife #srnaprobs #srnaproblems #nurseanesthesia #nursesweek2022 #nursesweek #anesthesia #aneathesiaschool #nurseanesthetist #nurseanesthesiologist #operatingroom #scrublife
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